AN: This is a sequel of sorts to Feeling This, though you don't have to have read that story to enjoy this one. This is meant to be a completely different type of story and separate from the other series. All you need to know is that Mari's little planet, with it's strategically optimal placing in the core was invaded by the Separatists and the swoon-worthy General Kenobi and Commander Cody came to the rescue. Mari let herself indulge in a fantasy or two including the Jedi and the clone, but now it's time for them to leave, and time for her real life to begin.
I originally wrote this to cap off Feeling This, but I had so much fun I had to write it from Whisky's pov as well, and I had so much fun doing that, I thought it would make a good start to their story. I don't have any concrete plans as of right now, but I'm always open to suggestions and encouragement.
Waking Up
After a long, tumultuous week of ups and downs - the droid army invading, the Republic arriving, the battles, the celebrating, the daydreaming - after their final meetings and after all their post battle preparations, it was time for the inevitable goodbyes. Mari and her father, the Governor, met with Obi-Wan and Cody late in the evening.
The special squadron along with the captain she would be working with, an ARC trooper, she'd heard, whatever that meant,would arrive within the next few days, and the rest of the battalion that had come with Obi-Wan and Cody would be dismissed shortly after that.
Though she knew it was ridiculous, Mari couldn't shake the bout of sadness, as if she were actually saying goodbye, forever, to lovers, instead of men she had only worked with for a small amount of time. The dreams she'd experienced every night since just after they arrived had felt real to her, substantial, as if they represented something deep within her that she hadn't quite figured out.
It sounded silly, but still... she felt richer for having known them. She tried to tell them as much, with a little flare of courage as she said her goodbyes, fighting desperately not to blush.
In response, Cody nodded, a pleasant look on his face, if not quite a smile. Obi-Wan, though, surprised her, stepping closer as he took her hand with a warm smile and a glint in his blue eyes.
No man had the right to be so attractive and charming.
She returned the smile happily. Mari knew heat was now blooming on the tops of her cheeks, but she didn't care.
And then they left.
The next few days bordered on almost dreadful for her as she went about her job assisting her father. She felt more lonely than she had before, despite the men that still occupied her planet.
After all, how exactly did one find the right one in a group full of men - that were all so similar? As it had been for days, this very question seemed to plague Mari, even now as she sat alone at her desk.
Kriff, and even if she did meet someone she liked, she kept trying to remind herself, they were soldiers. No way, no how would they be able to get involved, have a relationship. And then her heart sank a little more - not only soldiers, but genetically altered soldiers, made to serve one purpose. Her narrow shoulders shook with a little shiver at the thought of their imposed shortened lifespan.A real relationship was out of the question.
Mari closed her eyes and sighed, but a quiet, thrill-seeking voice was taking over in the back of her mind... Maybe you don't want a relationship. Maybe you don't want something predictable... Maybe you want something hot and fast. A night of passion...or two or three.
She shook her head, her loose dark curls bouncing over her shoulders and tried to return to her work. She should find someone nice. Something simple and steady and stable.
And sexy, so kriffin' sexy.
The thing she could not shake, even after more than a week, even though it had only occurred in her overactive imagination... Those honey brown eyes, intense with passion, needing her, wanting her. And she wanted him too.
Obi-Wan - he was a wonderful fantasy, almost too good to be true, a perfect dream, and she had thought of him, alone by herself late late at night.
But Cody... She knew she wasn't in love with him, she didn't know him at all but he had represented something much more real, something solid. Something realistic and attainable. Something meant to be.
And she was reminded day after day by the men that still occupied her planet, men she saw every day... The chiseled handsome features, the broad muscular frame, the sexy armor and the way it could be removed - as her dream-Obi-Wan had so effectively demonstrated - piece by piece.
She wanted it all. For real.
And a tiny little part of her told her maybe there was a reason. Maybe it was meant to be. Maybe there honestly was someone specifically meant for her and he just happened to look like three million other men. It was messing with her soul-mate radar.
But she wanted to explore what meeting Obi-Wan and Cody had awakened in her. Finally, she felt like she was coming into her own, becoming her own woman, or at least she thought she was on the right path. And she wanted to find a life of her own, and someone to share herself with.
She had tried to talk to the men that had been dropped on her doorstep, tried to meet someone...
A couple of the men had been nice but obviously not interested. One had been very flirty and she had enjoyed talking with him, and another she'd spoken to was more gruff, but quite interesting - she liked them both very much.
And then they had met each other.
Many of the others hadn't given her a second glance.
A few wouldn't even speak to her. She figured they were probably shy, or had no idea what to say, or were focused on duty as they should be, but in the back of her mind she couldn't help but feel a little dejected. Maybe she was only desirable within the confines of her own fantasy world.
But then one... A trooper under Cody's command - he had seemed more than interested, but the problem was that it didn't seem to be in her specifically. He made suggestive comments to everyone, and he had practically propositioned her right in front of her father, with a hot gleam flickering in his eyes. Luckily, the governor hadn't heard, or hadn't caught his meaning but she had the distinct feeling she wasn't the first, and she wouldn't be the last.
A part of her was attracted to the way he was so forward. He knew what he wanted, and he wasn't afraid to ask for it. But there was nothing personal to his advances. No indication that he was interested in her, and Mari didn't like the idea of becoming just another conquest to someone. She didn't think he even knew her name, and it just hadn't felt right.
She wanted it all, she realized. Something spontaneous but genuine at the same time. Was that possible, to be stable and exciting? To be predictable but passionate as well? Mari didn't know, but the thought of having to settle was unbearable.
Mari gave a deep sigh. That one proposition might've been her only chance to have a taste of what she had dreamed. But it was certainly not what she wanted. It was no use, she would just have to be patient, but her prospects seemed slim at best. Maybe she would just give up.
A flash of anticipation ran through the captain's body as the transport ship punched through atmo, shaking with the force of its own power. The thrill of a new mission, a new place, another success - was never lost on this clone. Reaching forward, Whisky hit the panel for the blast door. With a clang, it slid open, clear light and fresh air washing across him. The other hand reached for the handle that hung from the ceiling and he stood back to watch the scenery come into focus.
As the ship slid with smooth precision around the curve of the small planet, zooming closer, the mottled greens and browns began to take more distinct shapes. The clone captain could see the shimmery blue of a massive body of water far in the distance behind them. In front of them, the lines and angles of buildings in a city could be seen looming closer. For the most part though, what he saw was vegetation, broad square fields, and thick forests. With a flare of satisfaction, he nodded once thinking of the swatches of deep green on his kit. If needed, he could blend right into the surrounding forests. Though he didn't expect it to be that kind of mission, it was always a good idea to have a plan B.
"Two minutes to dirtside, sir," the brother who was piloting announced over the helmet comm, and Whisky nodded once as he answered.
His companion was a capable pilot, and their transport was easy to maneuver so free from the duty of helping land the ship, Whisky used the two minutes to commit the layout of the land around the capital city to memory.
Most importantly, he noted the positioning was ideal for defense. Good for battle strategy, he couldn't help thinking, but it doesn't look like much fun.The city, more of a town, really, did not extend far outside its boundaries, contained for the most part in a neat circle of establishment. On the far side was expansive water, perhaps an ocean, an unlikely place for clankers to be found. The rest was flat and sparsely populated beyond a few farm houses and the temporary barracks the troops that had arrived under General Kenobi's and Commander Cody's command had set up.
A couple blaster cannons, he thought to himself, pointed out from the city and they'd be set. Any ship landing has to land somewhere in the fields, and as soon as they touch down, everything can just be blown to oblivion.
Whisky had a feeling, however, that blowing everything to oblivion, even if it was only grass and trees, and maybe a farmer or two... might not go over as easily as he might like.
No problem, he was confident a solution, a compromise, could be found. He was an ARC trooper, after all, and had yet to find a mission that he was unable to that the local authority was reasonable. Which was certainly not always the case, but a man could hope.
The transport landed then and Whisky checked his chronometer. Right on time. He had an hour to get settled and prepare for the initial meeting with the Governor's aide.
Mari shook herself out of her own musings and efficiently finished what she was working on - she had that trooper to meet, one of the praised, special ops, ARC trooper captains.
Before anything else, they had to decide on a defense plan for the planet and then put it into action. The captain and her would be in charge of the initial project, and she hoped to keep her father out of the majority of the meetings beyond the final decision making. Considering the way her father could carry on sometimes, the project would move along much quicker if he wasn't involved, and honestly, he had enough to deal with.
She met the clone captain at their base, which was made up of the tent like structures they had erected to live in for the length of their stay. Her little city had very little extra space in buildings, but beyond the town were the expansive fields and the woods she treasured.
The troopers had a fairly reasonable space for barracks - at the front was a set of structures for common use, and she headed for the far left, where a smaller tent was set up for meetings, with a table and chairs.
Entering the tent, she was greeted by a clone trooper in full armor standing at attention next to the side of the table, still as a statue. The sight of him standing there, helmet on and everything was a little intimidating and it made her stop and stare. Were they all this tall?
She couldn't see anything through his visor. It was always a little disconcerting not to be able to see a trooper's expression, though she knew his face well enough by now. Parts of the plastoid armor he wore were painted a dark green color - on his legs and shoulders and a broad stripe over his chest to his helmet. Other clone troopers she had seen in the past weeks had also had various markings of different colors on their armor, but something about him, the way he wore it, caught her attention.
The deep green was the same color of the oldest evergreen trees on her planet, and she wondered idly why he had picked that particular color as her gaze lingered on his chest and arms.
"You're late." His voice rumbled through his mic. The sound was - it took her off guard, although she wasn't sure if it was because of the deep timbre of his voice, because it sounded different through the annunciator or the fact that he was chastising her.
"I -" She was speechless and she couldn't stop herself from looking at her chrono. One minute. She was one minute late.
Before she could say anything - remind him whose planet this was, for instance - he was speaking again. "Have a seat, and we can get started."
At the same moment he took his helmet off, a slight hiss sounded as it unsealed and he set it next to him on the table. The same dark hair in a clean standard cut, the same features, the same honey brown eyes...
But not a touch of good humor. Kriff, he looked even more serious than Cody.
Mari steeled herself for business, and nothing else. Heck, if this one caught her daydreaming, he'd probably discipline her right here.
Maybe he'd lay me right across this table and...
Mari gave herself a rough mental shake. Stop it. She told herself. Just stop.
Thankfully, she was able to focus completely as they laid out all their options for defense. Her head swam - plans, bases, weapons of every kind. It all felt so grim, but she was determined to work and work hard for what was best for her people.
Hours later, each option lined out in detail, she stood up, stretching her arms above her head for a moment before beginning to gather her things.
"It's a good start, at least," she said. "Tomorrow we should go through every option in detail, weigh the pros and cons of each and then we'll have to meet with my father."
"Agreed," the trooper said after a second, as he stood as well. "0800 tomorrow then? On the dot?"
Mari choose to ignore his remark, and met his eyes with a passive expression. "That would be fine, sir - trooper -"
To her surprise, he grinned then, his eyes lighting with an unexpected playfulness that made her heart stutter.
"The name's Whisky, if you don't mind."
"Oh..." She said lamely and cleared her throat. "Whisky."
The smile on his face widened and he set his hands on his hips as he regarded her, a question in his amber eyes.
"Um..." She swallowed before she answered his unspoken question. "You can call me Mari."
"Mari," he repeated, saying her name in a slow sort of way as if he was testing the feel of it on his lips.
Mari pressed her hand to the table, though she wasn't sure why, and then he spoke again, the tone of his voice completely different than anything she'd heard during their long meeting.
"So what do your people do for fun around here, Mari?"
She didn't say it, she would never say it, but all she could think of was moonlit forests.
Earlier...
Settling in took only a minute for Whisky - a pack dropped on a sleep pallet in a tent. Half of the temporary structures had already been taken down, but there were more than enough left for the troops remaining, some of them leaving soon as well, and Whisky had a bunk to himself.
The rest of the time he had was spent inspecting the area. There was a row of tents for sleeping quarters and another row that included a living space and a canteen. The field they were in was flat, covered in a coarse grass. In the distance he could see black scorches scarring the landscape where battle had taken place a week ago. There was a row of trees that marked the start of a dense forest on one side and the town on another. The buildings at the edges were small, growing larger further in.
Whisky took a deep breath, appreciating the clean, fresh taste to the air. A few troopers passed him as he walked around, but they all continued to go about their duty and since he hadn't spoken to them, they did not say anything to him. There would be a briefing later, anyway.
When he felt he had a good feel to the place, he headed back to the front. There was a large tent set up at the edge of the encampment facing the town for meetings. As was his custom, Whisky arrived five minutes ahead of schedule, set his own datapad on the table and waited, feet set apart, hands behind his back at parade rest.
The set time came and went, and Whisky sighed inwardly. Civvies.
In the next moment, though, the tent flap opened and a girl - woman- entered. Her frame was slight, but appropriately curvy for a female, he presumed. The top of her head would probably only reach his chin, or a bit higher and was covered in a mass of wavy brown hair. It looked as though she had the sides pinned back, or at least she had attempted so, but strands of her long hair had already escaped their restraints, making her curls look ridiculously unruly.
The light colored tunic and skirt she wore were form-fitting from her shoulders through her hips, modest and simple, appropriate. The tardiness, however, was decidedly not appropriate, and he commented as such.
She blushed then, as he informed her she was late, a soft pink spreading on the tops of her cheeks. Something about the fact that he had caused that particular color to warm her features gave him an unexpected pleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach but he set it aside to ponder at a later time.
Looking at him, her eyes were bright and aware, but he seemed to have struck her speechless as well, though he wasn't entirely sure why.
Perhaps she was intimidated by the armor. Or the overwhelming abundance of discipline.
In any case, he chose to remove the bucket and get things started.
To his slight surprise, as soon as they began talking strategy she seemed quite informed and discerning. At the same time, she spoke to him with the utmost respect. In the past he'd worked with a wide variety of civilians - some complete idiots who couldn't tell a battle plan from an uj cake recipe, and some that treated him like an idiot only because he was a clone, considering him to be less than human, he supposed.
Their loss, he thought to himself. Though in those frustrating, stress-inducing instances he himself had lost a fair amount of his precious time, and likely some of his sanity, as well. This one though - he looked to her as she studied a report he'd laid out, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated - this one was alright.
As he imagined, she was reticent to rely on anything too calamitous - although, the way he figured, when the ultimate goal was to destruct, one had to expect some destruction - but no bother. Some other viable options were put forth, by both himself and her.
Time passed quickly between them and as soon as they were finished, she moved to stand. Whisky complimented himself on a successfully completed task, and as it was nearly evening, an adequately productive day.
As she stood before him, on the other side of the table, she raised her hands above her head to stretch, no doubt stiff from the hours of sitting in one position. The subtle shifting of her form as he watched, however, transformed her in an instant from professional colleague to potential pleasant diversion.
The way she stretched made her back arch, which in turn made those curves he'd only barely noticed earlier welcomingly more prominent. With his duty taken care of for the day, he allowed himself a moment to appreciate what stood before him - after all, he could be here for a very long time - but his eyes could not decide where to settle next.
Her lithe body was beautifully rounded, from the curve of her waist to the flare of her hips, the slope of her neck and her slight shoulders. His perusal took only a moment, but he realized she had been talking, so he stood as well.
"Agreed," he answered, hoping she had said something he really did agree to. And, oh yes, they would have to meet again: "0800 tomorrow then? On the dot?" Whisky couldn't resist the opportunity to tease her a little, hoping she might blush again.
She didn't disappoint. He grinned at her little answering stutter and he told her his name. Indeed, they would meet again tomorrow, but in the meantime...
He couldn't help himself, letting his eyes take her in for the barest of moments and wondering if she could ever be interested in someone like him. He had his answer though as he looked at her, trying to look strong and attractive himself with his hands planted firmly on his hips.
She watched him, curiosity shining in her eyes and when he repeated her name she had to press her hand to the table in front of her as if she might topple over.
He grinned again.
"So what do your people do for fun around here, Mari?"
The answering glint in her dark brown eyes was exactly what he'd been hoping for.
AN: I hope you like! Writing clones is new enough for me, but attempting to write an ARC was just intimidating. Please let me know what you think, and please let me know if you'd like to see more!
Things are going to be a little busier for me now, I don't have any more of this story written at the moment, but I do have more of Miracle to be posted, and that will be about every two weeks. Hopefully, maybe, more of this after that. Please check out Miracle though in the meantime!
Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!